Church Planter’s Conference: Perry’s Breakout Session
Perry is speaking at a church planter’s conference today at Mountain Lake Church in Cumming, Georgia. These are some thoughts he shared during his breakout session:
- The leader must champion the vision.
- God does not give visions to committees. God never gave a vision to a committee in the Bible.
- "The Internet is a place for cowards to hangout." They hide behind their blogs and their email addresses.
- The leader cannot please everyone.
- As leaders, there’s a deep desire in us to make everyone happy. You can’t please everyone.
- Just in case you’re wondering, "NewSpring will start a Christian school when Hell freezes over."
- Some people will ask, "When are you going to start a men’s ministry?" We do men’s ministry every Sunday. Four services. And where there are men, there are women. There’s women’s ministry too.
- Some people will ask, "When are we going to go deeper." You can go deeper right now. Open your Bible. There’s some deep stuff in there. Read it.
- Sometimes you just need to let people leave your church. The space shuttle, as an example, has to lose some of its parts in order to make it into orbit.
- You can’t please everyone on your staff either. Make decisions according your vision.
- Leaders must fully trust God.
- "If you’ve never had a sleepless night, you’re not really in ministry."
- "There’s a fine line between faith and stupidity."
- "If you know how to play the G, C and D chord on the guitar, you can play any country song ever written." (That’s true.)
- "There is more stress and anxiety in my life than there has ever been." Getting bigger doesn’t take that away. It increases.
- "Make sure you’re having that daily time with God. If you’re not getting that fresh word, it’s really hard to trust him."
- Leaders cannot do everything.
- The bigger your church gets, the less people are going to be able to interact with you.
- "I used to print my cell phone in the bulletin. That’s stupid. Don’t do that." You can’t solve everyone’s problem.
- "I have A.D.D. People come to me for counseling, and I’m looking at the birds. Look. Hummingbird. They know how to back up."
- Leaders are not that smart.
- "The worst thing that can happen to us is if we start to believe we’re good."
- As a church planter, read through the book of Nehemiah. It’s packed full of leadership principles. Read the Gospels. Hang out in Acts. Get in Scripture.
- Seek wisdom from others. I network with others. I blog. I learn from the other guys on the senior management team.
- I listen to people who have a heart for God. They have to love the church. They have to love me. They have to do it in that order.
- Create a leadership environment where people can be very honest with you. Behind closed doors, there has to be passionate debate. Outside the room, there has to be complete unity.
The problem that I have with people who say, “If you want to go deeper, just open your Bible and read it” is that there are plenty of times when people are already doing that and they don’t understand the things they are reading. I know some of these people, and they are people with sincere hearts who are looking for a pastor who is spiritually-gifted in teaching to guide them.
It is not enough to just say, “If you want more than read your Bible.” Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John all opened up the OT to people and explained what it meant. They didn’t just tell people to do it on their own. They embraced their role as spiritually empowered and gifted teaching/preaching guides for their followers.
I understand that Perry is reacting to Christians who know enough and need to start doing more. And I am not questioning his spiritually giftedness (although I see him more as an evangelist than a Bible teacher). It is just that for those people who honestly want more than good marriage principles and wise money management tactics, just telling them to ‘open up their Bibles’ is not enough.
Brenton,
At NewSpring we have “Bible Studies,” “Home Groups,” and “volunteer opportunities” which all take people deeper and Perry encourages our people to “get there” to get more spiritual food.
We also have what we call “First Wednesday” Services (attended mainly by members and reg. attendees). These go a little deeper than what we do on Sundays.
I think what Perry is saying is that GOING DEEP (especially on Sunday) isn’t the vision! That’s the vision God gave him for this church…Sunday’s HAVE TO BE EVANGELICAL (get over it)!
I understand what you are saying about those NT guys that taught the OT…but those people couldn’t read. Besides Perry still teaches us what each passage means that he is teaching! Also, all of our services aren’t about “good marriage principles & wise money management tactics” check out our podcast & see for yourself!
Lastly, I believe the MAIN THING that leads us deeper is the Holy Spirit…not a pastor. “Get in the Bible and read it” is GREAT advice…everyone has to start somewhere. The church has to be careful that we don’t “raise fat Christians” who just suck down “the Word” & do nothing.
Not trying to “lay the smack down.” Just backing up my Senior Pastor whom I love and believe in every word he is saying! :)
pudge
Spot On Pudge! I said those exact words to my church Sunday that Perry did. Every single Christian in every single church has access to every single resource a Pastor has access to including the Holy Spirit who is the One who guides us in all truth and helps us to discern spiritual things. Sure the Church and leaders are there to teach and admonish and exhort but we have raised a generation of co-dependent “Christians” who want to be knowers and rarely doers of the word.
We tell people – if you want to get fed – feed someone.
The same Holy Spirit that teaches John Piper, Billy Graham, and Perry Noble “deep stuff” dwells in each one of us. How does any pastor learn the “deep stuff” to be able to teach the “deep stuff”? Through study, asking the Holy Spirit the right questions, and tons of humility. Don’t thoses same options apply to everyone? Instead of the attitude of, “Feed Me Deep Stuff!”
I have heard Perry say many years ago, that it is not the stuff in the bible that I don’t understand that scares me, it’s the stuff in the bible that I do understand that scares me.
Wow, I am impressed with the passion that you all have for Perry and your church. That is great.
For the record, I do subscribe to the podcast and listen to Perry. I was not knocking him personally. I apologize if you feel like that.
I merely wanted to say that for the majority of people it is not enough to just ‘read it.’ Yes the Holy Spirit is present in all believers, but that same Holy Spirit indwells certain men and woman and empowers them to teach and explain the Scriptures in unique and impacting ways. Think of the Book of Acts and Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch (a man who could read but needed the Scriptures explained to him).
Also, while people have access to ‘some’ of the materials pastors have to use in study, they do not have the same amount of time or training. So the idea that lay people could easily study and learn what a pastor should be learning is not completely accurate.
I am not trying to start a blog comment war. I hope we are all learning and growing both individually and corporately. God bless Perry Noble and God bless New Spring to keep pushing his Kingdom forward.
goingdeeper
one of the things thats been on my heart/mind/stomach the past few months has been the notion of going deeper. one of the phrases id hear a lot from the oldest students when i began as youth pastor at my church was i …
I hope that everyone who reads blogs and blog comments keeps in mind and understands that to take ONE comment that is intended as a summation of ONE point made at a conference or any other speaking event and picks apart that particular point is only looking at just that – a summation…a paraphrase.
The idea that Perry (or any other pastor for that matter) doesn’t teach or explain the Bible that he encourages NewSpring and all other Christians and unbelievers alike to dive into based upon the statement above is ludicrous.
As Christians, we are all called to study the Bible, and it is the responsibility of each of us to seek God through His Word.
Personally, I am grateful for all that Perry and his team does each week. I am blessed to be a part of a church that not only teaches the scripture, but makes it accessible and applicable to my life today.
I am not a scholar; I do not have a seminary degree; I have not had the opportunity to attend classes, training, workshops, or conferences that “go deep” in explanations of the Bible. What I can say with absolute integrity is that I know more today than I did yesterday, and knew more yesterday than I did last week and so on. Part of that is due to Perry’s teachings, and part of that is due to MY personal quiet time spent with God and His Word. When a person relies solely on the teachings of his pastor to obtain his spritual growth or understand of the Bible, where does that leave room for the Holy Spirit to work in his life, and how is that considered “personal” growth? Just a thought…
I do hope this “bickering” comes to an end. We are all on the same team, and in the end, WE ALL WIN and THAT is what life and Christianity is all about. As Perry so often says, let’s not major in the minors.
Deanna,
I agree with what you are saying about how Perry teaches and I love your passion for NewSpring! Being on staff at this church is definitely the most challenging & rewarding life (not just job) ever!
However, I don’t think we are “bickering” on here. Brenton isn’t being hostile or angry, he is just stating his opinion in love and so are we!
We are all happy people here…see :)!
pudge
Pudge,
I agree with what you’re saying whole-heartedly…bickering wasn’t a good word (which is why it was in quotations) – I just couldn’t find the right one! =)
Happiness and love all around!